Friday, May 2, 2014

Pretty, Devastating Scaly Cannibal

Yup.They are studded with venomous spines.While rarely fatal for humans, their voracious appetites (mature
lionfish even sometimes eat juvenile lionfish), relative lack of predators and
bullying behavior reputedly devastates reef diversity and seriously threatens
reef ecosystems.Still, lionfish
stings are extremely painful, and may also trigger headaches, vomiting, and
breathing difficulties. Getting stung by sea wasps (and a nasty land
wasp last year – click here to see my elephantitis arm) that was enough to
make me lionfish wary.FYI - A
common immediate home treatment is soaking the afflicted area in hot water.

Nature
Conservancy poster on lionfish,

seen at CEI.

Invasive?

Yes.Urban legend has it they made their foray into Florida and Caribbean
waters due to aquariums damaged in hurricane Andrew. However research shows
their mid 1980s presence predates that.Once in the top 10 species for aquarium owners (and still popular), the
theory is aquarium owners turned them loose, likely not realizing the potential
wide reaching impact. Prodigious reproducers, lionfish are capable of spewing
out up to 15,000 egg clusters monthly.

Turning
the Tables – Eat It to Beat It!

Wikipedia
notes “Other interest groups, such as NOAA, are setting up events and
campaigns that encourage the killing and eating of the fish.[36]Many people are
wary of the idea of eating a venomous fish, but when properly filleted the fish
is safe to eat. Encouraging the consumption of lionfish could not only help to
maintain a reasonable population density, but also provide an alternative
fishing source to other over fished populations, such asgrouperandsnapper.
The Reef Environmental Education Foundation has even prepared a cookbook to
help educate restaurant chefs on how they can incorporate the fish into their
menu (click here to purchase
their for their fund-raising lionfish cookbook). The NOAA calls the
lionfish a ‘delicious, delicately flavored fish’ similar in texture to grouper.[44]Many recipes for
lionfish can be found in coastal cookbooks, some including fried lionfish,
lionfish ceviche, lionfish jerky and grilled lionfish. “

Whiteboard
warning on Cape Eleuthera Institute

lionfish tank.

My Lionfish Sightings

Despite hearing lionfish have become a common
nuisance in the Bahamas, I still never expected to see them outside an
aquarium.Florida Key Largo’s John
Pennekamp Park’s welcome center saltwater aquarium offered a good lionfish
prelude.

Snorkeling with Ann of Krazy Lady in the Ragged
Island’s Hog Cay, she spotted the only lionfish I’ve seen so far “in the wild.”“I used to see them all over last year”
Ann said.“Now, not so much.”

At Cape Eleuthera Institute (CEI) we also got a
gander lionfish prevention efforts, as well as more lionfish in captivity for
study.‘Krazy Lady’ Ann and Andy
of Andante led us to CEI as a suggested stop with our joint South Eleuthera
rental car tour.CEI is paying
local fishermen $11 / pound for lionfish to help promote the reduction of
lionfish.“They’re easy to catch”
we’ve been told.“Without predators, they tend to just look at you.Then you spear them.”

Lionfish
in Cape Eleuthera Institute (CEI) lionfish

research tank.

Eat
It to Beat It?

At Eleuthera’s Governor’s Harbour, I opted to
buy a pound of hogfish fillet from the local fisherman, instead of the “tastes
just like chicken” bite from their already safely filleted (venomous spines
removed) lionfish.I didn’t think
Wayne would try it, though found out he would’ve.Next time.Spearing them myself?First
I’d like to learn how to spear a non-venomous fish that offers more than three
bites of a fillet.

Would you catch a lionfish? Would you eat a lionfish? Who would you trust to fillet it?

Poster created
by Dawn WItherington

at CEI depicting how to safely

remove lionfish spines.

Location
Location

May 2, 2014 BAHAMAS.We’re in Spanish Wells, Eleuthera (N25.32.484 W76.44.728) ,
kicking ourselves a little for delaying our planned overnight sail to the
Abacos today.Weather reports forecast
winds a bit too light for sailing, and seas a bit higher than we’d like.Turns out it was windy enough to sail
and now we’re debating our next sailing window.